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BTOSports.com KTM rider Andrew Short tried third-gear starts in San Diego, which seems nearly impossible, yet, also effective. Our Steve Matthes asked him about it. “I ran completely different gearing than a lot of the other guys, than Dungey and Kenny and even Goerke,” says Short. “So I was shifting basically right when I was going over the gate. I’m a really good starter in terms of shifting. I learned from the Honda days from data and all that, how quick to shift and clutch and all that. But tonight there was that hole. Everyone else got over that then shifted, and that’s where I didn’t have to shift and that’s where the start came from. I don’t even mind saying it, I started in third gear because you can’t do that on any other bike. It’s the weirdest thing ever. For some reason this bike with my gearing works. The reason I tried that, I tried start mode, you can do all kinds of mapping and whatever, but I wanted to keep my wheel position in the same place, I wanted the suspension to react the same way. I didn’t have to make any big changes except for doing that start. That’s something the KTM guys, [factory Red Bull KTM mechanics] Carlos, Frankie, even [Michael] Byrner this weekend really helped me with and it made a huge difference.”

Last year’s San Diego winner, Davi Millsaps, was on hand hanging out at the Rockstar Energy Racing KTM truck. A few weeks ago DM18 said he might be back from a torn ACL in time for Atlanta, but he’s decided to push the recovery back and is now aiming for Houston in early April.

Andrew Short (29) found the key to a good start in San Diego. Photo: Simon Cudby

Justin Barcia is struggling big time with starts this year. At San Diego, we noted all manner of ignition/ECU mapping switches on the bars of his Muscle Milk Honda, two buttons on the left side and a rocker switch on the right side. Usually, that’s a trick used to build a “start-setting” into the map that the riders can use off the line, then switch back into regular mode once they reach the first turn. Unfortunately for Barcia, he once again got sub-par starts in San Diego.

On to the lap times!

450SX Class

Lap Rank

Finish

Best Lap

In Lap

Avg Lap Time

Rider

1

1

47.228

16

48.071

James Stewart

2

3

47.301

7

48.421

Ken Roczen

3

2

47.436

7

48.123

Ryan Villopoto

4

12

47.566

5

48.373

Chad Reed

5

6

47.656

4

49.452

Justin Barcia

6

4

47.866

6

48.585

Ryan Dungey

7

7

47.876

8

49.590

Eli Tomac

8

5

48.171

6

49.158

Weston Peick

9

9

48.293

12

49.244

Justin Brayton

10

8

48.331

4

49.652

Broc Tickle

11

11

48.547

7

50.058

Josh Hill

12

10

48.658

5

50.158

Andrew Short

13

16

49.176

6

50.638

Vince Friese

14

22

49.200

4

50.362

Matt Moss

15

14

49.353

4

50.611

Mike Alessi

16

15

49.425

5/7

50.638

Matt Goerke

17

13

49.497

8

50.585

Ivan Tedesco

18

17

49.626

8

50.797

Nick Wey

19

18

49.631

7

51.581

Kyle Chisholm

20

20

49.718

5

52.312

Phil Nicoletti

21

19

50.398

7

51.988

Jimmy Decotis

22

21

50.606

6

53.392

Chris Blose

250SX Class

Lap Rank

Finish

Best Lap

In Lap

Avg Lap Time

Rider

1

2

47.976

7

48.966

Jason Anderson

2

1

48.092

3

48.731

Justin Hill

3

3

48.528

4

49.608

Malcolm Stewart

4

4

48.728

5

49.860

Cole Seely

5

5

49.025

6

50.948

Shane McElrath

6

14

49.288

3

51.711

Cooper Webb

7

6

49.334

5

51.884

Jessy Nelson

8

21

49.876

10

51.470

Dean Wilson

9

7

50.256

5

51.911

Michael Leib

10

9

50.651

5

52.421

Jake Canada

11

8

51.087

5

52.541

Scott Champion

12

10

51.301

7

52.982

Dean Ferris

13

17

51.591

6

53.171

Topher Ingalls

14

11

52.244

4

53.438

Dakota Tedder

15

16

52.679

2

53.615

Valentin Teillet

16

12

52.833

5

53.892

Preston Mull

17

20

52.878

7

55.081

Brandon Scharer

18

19

53.636

2

56.891

Chris Howell

19

13

52.938

5

53.909

Zach Freeberg

20

15

54.012

14

55.051

Ruben Alanis

21

22

54.387

3

54.923

Michael Horban

22

18

54.682

4

56.032

Jean Marrone

There are not many titans in the sport that can pull a crowd to their feet when they lock horns for twenty laps like James Stewart and Ryan Villopoto. The sure-fire future Hall of Famers brought back memories of their epic duel at the Monster Energy Cup in San Diego. Let’s take a look at see how the lap charts played out.

Lap

James Stewart

Ryan Villopoto

2

47.934

48.231

3

47.489

48.078

4

48.402

47.726

5

47.615

47.480

6

47.271

47.769

7

47.607

47.436

8

47.767

47.657

9

48.164

48.106

10

47.811

47.834

11

47.493

47.645

12

48.211

48.617

13

48.264

47.865

14

48.21

48.135

15

47.884

47.939

16

47.228

48.040

17

48.654

48.569

18

48.605

49.227

19

48.385

49.053

20

50.370

48.935

Jason “Mr. Comeback” Anderson has been relentless in charges down the stretch in 2014—seemingly popping out of every nook and cranny to capture a late win. Justin Hill, in only his second appearance in the lead, would hold serve in San Diego, pumping the brakes on Anderson’s late heroics. Check out that last lap time. "It’s something [backing it down on the last lap] I haven’t been doing but I’m cool with it,” Anderson told us after the race. “Going into the break I didn’t want to push it and end up falling. So four points [lead], a second, a podium, points lead going into the break, I’m cool with it.”

Lap

Justin Hill

Jason Anderson

8

48.938

48.715

9

48.722

49.669

10

48.661

49.079

11

48.597

48.808

12

49.325

48.623

13

49.002

49.658

14

49.324

49.218

15

49.726

51.560

Avg

49.036

49.416

Chad Reed’s late push for Ken Roczen ended badly, but you can’t fault the effort. Through laps 12-19, the veteran made a charge for the podium that nearly ended with a last-lap pass in the whoops. Instead, he went down. Check out the lap times down the stretch and you’ll see that Reed averaged about two tenths of a second quicker than Roczen through their final eight laps before the crash.

Lap

Ken Roczen

Chad Reed

12

49.100

49.236

13

49.149

48.978

14

48.463

48.384

15

48.959

48.460

16

48.537

48.137

17

48.488

48.010

18

48.614

48.527

19

48.485

48.265

Avg

48.724

48.499

After his season main event debut at Anaheim 3, GEICO Honda’s Eli Tomac felt he needed his bike to turn better, so he softened the suspension. After the race, he told our Steve Matthes that they went too soft for the steep jumps of San Diego, evidenced by netting twenty-first fastest—or, last place—in the first timed qualifying session. He went back to something closer to the Anaheim 3 setup in the main, where he finished seventh. Along the way, both Barcia (after he got up from a crash) and Tomac were passed by Weston Peick. Supercross 2014: Not what you expected!

Wil Hahn missed San Diego with a hand injury. Photo: Simon Cudby

"Not bad for just my second race back," said Tomac in a team statement. "I'm feeling better and better and my shoulder (injured in a heat race at the season opener) is stronger. It's still not 100 percent but it's very close. I know that as it gets better, I'll get better overall. I struggled early. I just had no flow in practice. We were looking for a setup and tried something that worked in practice this week but it didn't translate to this track. We finally went back to a tried and true setup for P3 and it worked. I got better each time out after that.”

Tomac’s teammate Wil Hahn was unable to race due to a lingering hand injury suffered last week in Anaheim. "I really tried to ride but as soon as I crashed (in practice) I realized right away that it happened because my hand isn't healed all the way,” Hahn said in a team PR. “If I was able to grip the handlebars like normal, I wouldn't have gone down. I decided to take the night off to make absolutely sure I can race up front next weekend in Dallas."

San Diego was titled the Military Appreciation Race, and many riders and bikes sported military-themed looks. Tomac was extra close to the situation, though, as his brother Greg is a captain in the U.S. Air Force.

A ninth was the worst finish of the year for JGR Toyota Yamaha’s Justin Brayton, but he wasn’t disappointed with his riding. Brayton tried some chassis changes for Anaheim 3 and felt off, so he went back to his previous setup in San Diego and felt better. Unfortunately, Brayton went down on the second lap of the main and got up last. His charge back to ninth was impressive.

Phil Nicoletti made his 2014 debut last Saturday. Photo: Simon Cudby

As for Brayton’s new teammate Phil Nicoletti (who is filling in for the injured Josh Grant), his night included three-straight holeshots in his heat, semi and the LCQ. He didn’t holeshot the main, though, and didn’t feel like he rode well, either. “I was just riding around,” he said. “If I had a heart rate monitor it wouldn’t have read over 140. I don’t know why.” No word yet on if Grant will return for this weekend’s Dallas race or if Nicoletti will get the call again.

After a few weeks fighting injuries, Soaring Eagle Casino RCH Suzuki rider Broc Tickle was back to his usual consistent self in San Diego, taking eighth. "Tonight was great," said Tickle in a team statement. "It felt really good to get that momentum rolling again. In the main event I pushed and felt like I rode to my potential."

When the season started, veteran racer Michael Byrne was working with SmarTop MotoConcept’s Mike Alessi during the week and at the races. Byrner is still working with Mike, but now only during the week, and had a new weekend trial gig with his old BTOSports.com KTM team working with riders Andrew Short and Matt Goerke.

A crash in practice sent Crossland Racing Motosport.com’s Jimmy Albertson into the wall and out for the night with a bad wrist and knee. Yes, he literally launched off the track and hit the wall in front of the stands. The team says Albertson will give it a shot this weekend in Dallas.

Strikt Slaton Yamaha’s Scott Champion is in the midst of a career year. Since turning pro in 2009, Champion has competed in just three full seasons of Monster Energy Supercross, garnering just one top ten (Salt Lake City 2012). Following a 2013 season in which his best finish was a fifteenth, Champion already has finishes of eleventh and twelfth (twice), including a career high eighth in San Diego. Furthermore, after making just five main events a season ago, Champion has already made all six mains in 2014.

Champion’s Strikt Slaton Yamaha teammate Zach Freeburg was back in action for the first time since Anaheim 1 after missing the last four rounds with injury. The Florida native finished thirteenth in his return.

Privateers Jean Marrone and Brandon Scharer continue to carry the Suzuki flag in 250SX. Scharer, a second-year pro from California, has made three consecutive mains. Meanwhile, Marrone, a native of France, made his second consecutive main.

Scott Champion finished a career high 8th in San Diego. Photo: Simon Cudby

Michael Leib’s Jekyll and Hyde 2014 continued in San Diego. Through six races Leib’s stat line has read: 11-DNQ-9-6-DNQ-7. If Leib can limit mistakes when the Western Regional 250SX Championship returns, he has a chance to catch Dean Ferris for tenth in points (currently twelve back).

Lucas Oil/Troy Lee Designs Red Bull Honda’s banner season continued trucking in San Diego. Through six rounds, the team has had all four riders finish inside the top ten three times, and three of four riders finish inside the top ten three times. The upward trend continued in San Diego, with all four riders finishing inside the top six!

Vince Friese’s run in the 450SX Class will take a brief hiatus beginning this weekend in Dallas. The Factory Metal Works/Club MX backed privateer will turn his attention to the Eastern Regional 250SX Championship on Saturday. Although never without controversy, Friese was excellent in the class for a second straight season, making all six mains with a season high of fourteenth.

Jimmy Decotis will also be turning his attention away from the 450SX Class to concentrate on the 250SX championship in the East. Decotis has made two of the last three mains, including San Diego.